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Comment by starkd | Hacker News Reader

But the power and potential disruption of cryptocurrency is the anonymity. It's the benefits of cash brought to the digital world. I understand the dangers of the criminal element, but underground economies benefit oppressed people when governments turn tyrannical. If you're response to that is only that "it can't happen here", I don't know what to say. They can and do happen faster than anyone realizes. And they are not quick to give power back.

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If your argument is that governments should not regulate cryptocurrency because the point of cryptocurrency is to evade government regulation, you should expect cryptocurrency to become illegal rather than regulated.

Not solely for the point of evading government regulation. I said it's useful to get around oppressive governments. Governments usually become tyrannies so gradual you don't notice. But it's faster than you think.

> underground economies benefit oppressed people when governments turn tyrannical

They also benefit the rich and powerful by enabling tax evasion and graft. Pyongyang, Tehran and Caracas make regular use of illicit trade and money laundering to facilitate upward wealth transfer.

Yours is a legitimate point. It's an argument for curtailing the power of law and government. That's fine. We can debate that. But until America decides it doesn't want to collect taxes anymore, the reporting is sort of required.

When they cash it in for dollars, they have to report it their gains. That's already built in. This bill pushes further into the crypto space.

Cash and anonymous digital transactions also benefit the lower end as well.

Many poor families, including immigrants, get through life daily with an underground, cash only, economy.

It's not just a tool of the rich and wealthy.

Taxation on assets and income is THEFT.

A lot of people work in the underground economy. It's useful when excessive government regulations prevent "undesirables" from being hired.

> But the power and potential disruption of cryptocurrency is the anonymity.

Depends on the ones you use. Certainly the privacy coins like Monero are the ones that do better than most of the other coins out there.

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